Need Advice on Full Moon Quick!!!

[britt777]

I am trying to take pictures of the full moon with my 20D and 70-200 lens.
I have been trying everything and can't seem to get it right any help or suggestions would be great. Thank You:)

[kb244]

Use a fast shutter speed ( the moon is essentially reflection from the sun ) , I've had sucess shooting anywhere from like 1/250 to 1/500 , making it easy to handhold as well. Some people asusme because its at night you need a tripod and longer exposure for the moon itself but usally end up with a big white dot.

Though, I cant say the moon will be any bigger than a 640x480 crop out of your camera on a lens as short as 200mm, but it also depends where you are on the hemisphere.

[MTalley]

Bracket, bracket, bracket.

Like kb244 said, start with a higher shutter speed than you would expect. The camera will meter the scene at like 1/8 or 1/15 seconds, which will give some good color to the sky and a big, white, blurry, blown out circle in the middle.

Manual mode rules, shutter priority is next. Remote release is good, timer photo is the next best alternative, depending on the sturdiness of your tripod (which I assume you are using).

Thanks for reminding me. I need to set up my DRebel, my 75-300 lens, tripod and remote release and go do the same...

[kbreit]

I took a "full moon" photo last night with a 200mm lens. I agree, a faster shutter speed will be good. Make sure you lower the apature a bit too (7.1f or lower!). I'm mostly happy with my results. I'd like another 50mm or 100mm on my zoom though.

[kb244]

One of these days I'll experiment with a slower manual focus 500 or 600mm zoom.

[MTalley]

OK, here ya go. 300mm zoom, ISO-100, 1/200 sec., f/11. I ended up having to lighten it up a little in PS, so about 1/100 sec. would have probably worked better.

[Leorooster]

My yellowish moon. 200mm x 1.4, ISO-200, 1/5 sec., f/20.

[Golden Eye]

Hi, Newbie here...

Just got EOS 300D with USM 75-300mm lens. I wanna take pic of the moon tonight. Can you guide me thru step by step for cam set up, promise I will read book this weekend.
Thanks
Michael

[MTalley]

Interesting that your moon is rotated about 10 degrees counter-clockwise from mine. I guess that would be due to our latitude difference? (Assuming we both leveled our tripods before shooting).

Is the yellow due to atmospheric pollution in your area?

[MTalley]

Hey, GoldenEye.

Attach your lens, set the camera to the Manual "M" setting. Set the whole thing up on your tripod (you do have a tripod, right?). Aim at the moon, focus (half-press the shutter).

Set the ISO to 100 (press the ISO button, rotate the top wheel until you get to 100, then press the ISO button again).

Set the aperature to f/11 (press the A/V button and hold it while spinning the wheel again until you get to 11 on the LCD display, then release the A/V button).

Set the exposure to 1/100 second. Spin the wheel until 100 shows on the left side of the LCD.

Aim again and shoot. Review the image and zoom all the way in. Is the moon bright enough to see details, but not too bright to blow out the details? You're probably good. Otherwise, bracket the exposure by using different shutter speeds. Click the wheel once in one direction (from 1/100 to 1/80, for example) and take another shot. Keep doing that in either direction until you have several pictures from maybe 1/20 second to 1/250 second, depending on the brightness of the image.

Load them into the computer and check them out. If none of them show any good detail, go back outside and play around with the shutter speed some more.

[Golden Eye]

Thanks, going outside now to try it. Oh, yes I have a tri pod...LOL
Thanks!!!

[Leorooster]

Yep, I noticed that too. I guess you're right that it's due to different latitudes. You are in AL and I'm in NY.......

As for the color of the moon.......I don't know why it's yellow......., but if I have to guess, I would think that it would have something to do with the rain, as I took this shot right before it rained. The color was as white as yours when I took it a few days ago.

Interesting that your moon is rotated about 10 degrees counter-clockwise from mine. I guess that would be due to our latitude difference? (Assuming we both leveled our tripods before shooting).

Is the yellow due to atmospheric pollution in your area?

[Leorooster]

Good luck and have fun.....Thanks, going outside now to try it. Oh, yes I have a tri pod...LOL
Thanks!!!

[Golden Eye]

turned out kewl! How do I post it for you to see?

[Golden Eye]

My first attempt, how can I make it better?

[Golden Eye]

what a great resource this web site is. thanks Leo...
Michael

[hauff]

O.K. I'll throw my pictures from tonight in as well. The EXIF doesn't say it but I also had a Tamron 1.4X TC attached. Boy I wished I had a 400mm "L".


http://www3.telus.net/public/g0a00489/moon1.jpg

http://www3.telus.net/public/g0a00489/moon2.jpg

[hauff]

Hey Golden Eye, by the looks of the rotation in your pic and mine, I'd say you gotta be east coast or close.

[fetching]

i only have the kit lens, a 50mm and a zeiss 135mm. none of those will work, i assume? i took pics and got a big white spot the other night.

[britt777]

I only have the 200mm lens, did you blow yours up or what? it looks so big!

[Feihung08]

Great thread! It was cool to see all the different pics of the same moon on the same night!

Good job on your first attempt Golden Eye! Very impressive! Though your focus is a bit softer than MTalley's it's still pretty good!

[ron chappel]

My first attempt, how can I make it better?


Good exposure! Mtalley's advice was excellent.
Your lens should do slightly better than that but not a huge amount.
Focus is very likely the the main problem.
Take a bunch of pics refocussing each time.
Are you manual focussing?
Manual focus is best for accuracy but watch you don't stare too long!Every time i do moon pics i get burned spots in my eye - (i allways take quite a few manually focused pics because focus is so critical)